Development of Prop 1 Guidelines: The Coastal Conservancy has developed draft project solicitation and evaluation guidelines for water bond implementation. The public is encouraged to review and comment on these draft guidelines. Written comments should be emailed to: comments@scc.ca.gov or mailed to: The Coastal Conservancy 1330 Broadway #1300 Oakland, CA 94612.

The deadline for comments is March 20, 2015. The Coastal Conservancy will hold three public meetings around the state for the purpose of receiving comments on the draft guidelines:
March 11th in Sacramento, 901 P street, from 9-11am;
March 19th in Oakland, 1330 Broadway 11th floor, from 2-4pm; and
March 20th in Los Angeles, 320 West 4th Street, 7th floor conference room, from 10am-12pm.

The draft guidelines will also be discussed and public comments are welcome at the Coastal Conservancy’s March 26th meeting in Napa.

With the passage of Prop 1, the Coastal Conservancy can continue its mission to protect and restore California rivers, lakes, streams, and watersheds. (more…)

Join the California King Tides Initiative on its 5th anniversary to capture this winter’s highest tides, or king tides, on December 21-23, January 19-21, and February 17-19. Participating is easy – simply grab your camera or smart phone and head to the coast or bay during the high tides, then share your photos following directions at http://california.kingtides.net/.

The California State Coastal Conservancy (Conservancy) announces the availability of funding through its Climate Ready program. This round of Climate Ready grants is made possible by an appropriation into the new California Climate Resilience Account, created by legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Gordon, to address the risks and impacts of climate change, sea level rise, and associated extreme events to coastal and bay communities and natural resources. (more…)

Thanks to State Senator Mark Leno and the Natural Resources Defense Council, a state resolution (SJR 20) passed through the legislature in August of 2014 that salutes the 50th anniversary of the state’s leadership and innovation in coastal planning and management and proclaims February 16, 2015, and each third Monday in February thereafter as “Safeguard Our Coast Day”.

Ann Notthoff of the Natural Resources Defense Council put it well: “Our coast defines us Californians. We have the best coastal management system in the world. Thanks to that and strong public support, California’s coast is beautiful, our tourism economy is booming and the marine life that call it home have a healthy future. Constant pressures will always mean the coast and ocean are never “saved,” but we are lucky to have a coastal program that gives us the tools to keep our coast as healthy as possible. “ (more…)

A great many lawns are a lovely shade of brown in California right now as we are well into the third year of the worst drought since the 1970s. That includes the lawn around our state capital, which the Department of General Services let die. There isn’t very much anyone can do in the short run about the drought, other than conserve as much water as possible and hope that next winter is at least a “normal” winter if not a wetter than normal winter. In the long run however, there are plenty of things we can do, particularly in our coastal cities, to adjust to the realities of periodic droughts and the impacts of climate change on our water system.